Monday, November 02, 2009

Will The Swine Flu Turn You Into A Grinch This Christmas?

Now that we are past Halloween it's just a matter of weeks before the real festivities start ala Thanksgiving and Christmas. In a typical year people would already be planning out their menus, making reservations to attend the countless string of office parties, and anxiously awaiting all the time that will be spent with family members from all over the country. Unfortunately this really isn't what you would call a typical year is it? As sad as it may seem Swine Flu hysteria has taken over the country and even those that didn't give a thought to canceling Halloween are now contemplating alternate means of ringing in the New Year.

According to the New York Times "In offices, churches, hospitals, college dorms and schools — and even at yoga classes and in apple orchards — the fear of swine flu is turning age-old rituals on their head. What used to be O.K. is not anymore, as the flu has ushered in new standards of etiquette that can be, in turns, mundane, absurd and heartbreaking." As the dad of a 3 1/2 year-old and the husband of very pregnant wife, I can say that anytime my family goes out in the public the thought of canceling because of the swine flu enters my mind. I know some will accuse me of overreacting, but as they say better safe than sorry right? Yes it means we may miss the occasional birthday party or church service, but the way I look at it is that since I obviously can't trust others who are sick to stay home than the responsibility falls onto myself to ensure my family is not exposed.

When it comes to the Swine Flu how far is too far? Certainly we shouldn't cancel Thanksgiving and even Santa himself couldn't stop the retail stores from ushering in Christmas. Still though I'm not so sure I won't be doing some extra recognisance work this year before attending the latest round of Greedy Santa. I'll try to make it casual "So who's coming?" and keep myself flexible "As far as I know we will be there". I'll ask questions at the first sign of a cough or sneeze, "Wow that sounds rough. Have you gone to the Dr. yet?". I'll be vigilante "So is your son/daughter feeling better today?" And what happens when the inevitable does happen and we end up sharing the night with somebody who is sick? I'll secretly set the alarm on my phone to go off and fake an emergency.

1 comment:

Anonymous
said...

Hate to break it to ya Bill but if you look at swine flu...one of the most contagious days is the day before symptoms show. Abby was 100% feeling SUPER all day and BAM at 10:00 at night she had a 101 fever just in the snap of your fingers...no symptoms previously!

About Me

I’m just your average southern guy learning how to be the best dad I can.
I live in a small town in Alabama with my wife Mandy, 5yr-old son Adam, and 1 1/2 yr old Alex. Adam was born on 3/20/06 and that's when the adventure truly began.
I call myself Charlie Blockhead because #1 I’m a huge Peanuts fan, #2 Sometimes I do thing’s that are so….out of this world bizarre that even I am left wondering what happened.
I am a religious person, but it took me a long time to figure that out. Over the past few years it has been my goal to form solid opinions about life issues, politics, and what is right and wrong. I have been the child of a close family, a child of divorce, a nerd in school, a comic book geek, the stepson of an angry man, the brother of a baseball star, a frat bro, a hard worker, a freelance writer, an evil bill collector, a loving husband, a believer in Christ, a Deacon,a guy who just really likes to laugh, and most importantly a dad….. Maybe I’m not so average after all.